A new fight
by AuraKiller
Summary: Guess who's back. A new fight arrives and it is more deadly then ever. and what is wrong with cloud?has now four chapters. See what Cloud expeirences and where he goes, or rather, who he goes to.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own these characters, bug off.  
  
A new fight.  
  
Sephiroth was standing there, blood dripping down his face. He knew it was the end for him. He was staring at his rival, Cloud Strife, who was also bloody from the battle. Sephiroth's three godly forms were all defeated. But that was not the last they would see of him….  
  
__________________________________________  
(Exactly a year later, at Cosmo Canyon)  
  
Cloud: One whole year has gone by now….. Red looks up from his bed. "What?" The whole ff7 crew (minus Cait Sith and Aeris) was at the new Cosmo Canyon. A new, larger, Cosmo Canyon. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Tifa had noticed a change in Cloud the past week. Yuffie, her always happy self, perked up. "What 'cha talking about Cloud?"   
  
He looks up.  
  
"Since I---we--killed him." Everyone looks down at the ground at the mention of him. Cid stands up. "This is just too much damn drama for me, I'm going outside." "I think I'll join you," replied Vincent. They both walked out. They see the new Cosmo Canyon. It's almost as big a Midgar- rather, the old Midgar. The houses are still they same, nothing is neo or metal built save a few buildings. Everyone is in a peace like time. Yet, there has been a certain energy rush lately. But not a good energy rush. An enegy rush that everyone could feel that something big was forming. Something evil. That started a week ago, when Cloud started acting weird.  
  
All week, Cloud seemed to be draining his energy, when the others were more energetic than ever. Cloud felt like he had no consience, like he was there, but somewhere else.   
  
Snapped out of his thoughts by Barret, he looks up. "Who cares about him?" asked Barret. "He's good and dead and that's how it will stay." Cloud says nothing and turns away. Red, always wise, jumps off his bed. "I've been watching you lately Cloud. I know what you feel and I know what you think it is." Cloud's eyes widen a little. "How?" Red smirks. "Just old, dog, wisdom I guess. I can sense things better. Can smell things better too," he tries to cheer up Cloud. Cid and Vincent walk back in laughing, after a talk about how everything, especially Cloud, has been so weird lately.  
  
Tifa, cleaning off her plate, asks "What do you think it is Cloud?" Cloud shrugs and looks at Red. "I think it is best you tell them Cloud, not I," Red says. He knew Cloud was avoiding the question. But Cloud point blank said  
  
"Sephiroth."  
That gets everyone's attention. Vincent sits down in front of the bay window, the sun setting behind him, making it look like he is just a shadow. "What is this about Sephiroth?" Clouds snaps to attention. "C'mon, you all can't tell me you haven't felt this the past week. It's him, I know it is and you do too!" They turn their heads away from him, knowing it's true. Red keeps his calm. "I've been watching the area where we left him through my grandfather's telescope in the tower. It is completley black now. I suppose it is him."  
  
Cid drops his cigar. "What?! How the hell can that be?" Red watches the window intenlty. "It is his, I think, last form. This past year, he probably has been gathering energy and this past week he reached his peak. I expect he'll be here…..tonight."  
  
"WHAT!!!!????" everyone screams. "How the hell do you know this Red?" Barret yells. With a gleam in his eye Red replies: "Bugenhagen has been talking to me." Tifa realizes something. "Red, you can….?" "Yes Tifa." "For how long?" "About a month ago?"   
  
Barret gets confused. "What the @!^!&! are you guys talking about?" Red lets out a small laugh. "Heh, Bugenhagen has been talking to me…..Think about Aeris." Everyone now realizes what he's talking about. Cid, wanting to be ready, stands up. "We haven't trained for this!! How are we supposed to beat him? For christ's sake, we all threw are weapon's away because there was no need for them! How Red, How??!!"   
  
"No you didn't," he replies.  
  
"Didn't what?" Cid is getting angry. The sun is still setting.  
  
"You still have them."  
  
"Stop !%^&!ing around Red!"  
  
"Come with me." Red walks out of the room and into the city. Everyone quicklly follows. They follow him for five minutes, past all the townsfolk to a small little hut. The stand in side, facing a large cabinet. Red opens it and…….  
  
find out in the next chapter what happens!!!! 


	2. Preperations

I said it in the first chapter, but I don't own any of these charaters.  
  
Chapter 2.  
  
Red opens up the cabinet and they all see….. "Our weapons!" Every ultimate weapon of theirs is hung up. Each on has strings of blue electricity around them. They hesistate before taking them. "Red, what's going on with our weapons?" Cloud asked. Red replies with a laughing sort of tone. "Oh, not much. The only thing is is….now what was it? Oh, that's right…" "Tell us!!" they anxiously yell. "Well, to put it simply, every weapon is now twice as strong as it once was."  
  
"Sweet, awsome, kick ass!" they yeall. One by one they take out their weapons. Cloud looks at his Ultima Weapon. "So that's why they are electrified," he says to himself. Red even takes his and sets it firmly in his ear. "There was no need for you to train. It wouldn't have done much anyway. Besides, I didn't want to worry you and the town. The weapons should be enough. Well, let's go, we have to prepare. We have maybe four hours until midnight. Then we will wait."  
  
They go outside and in the four hours Tifa and Yuffie evacuate everyone, Cid and Vincent put up the emergeny bunkers ( barriers that go around the house powered by materia that cast stronger forms of wall, mb barrier, and all other support spells), Barret, Cloud and Red all go and get the materia Red was storing underground. He put it all underground for fear of someone finding the materia and using it for wrong purposes. "Whoa," Cloud admires. The materia are all giving off quite a radiant glow that lights up the whole gave. Each materia is a master one, so there is only one of each (Green- Spell, Yellow- Command, Blue-Support, Red-Summon, and one colorless indepentdent materia.  
  
Cloud picks up the summon one. "The Knights of the Round Table, Bahamut ZERO, they are all here. Who gets what?" Red thinks for a second. "Well, once the others get here we will decide." They wait and eventually Red goes to fetch them since the others probably don't know where the cave is. He comes back and Tiffa and Yuffie gasp. "They're beautiflu!" Cid even admires it. "Whoa…been a long time huh?"   
  
"We have to distribute this evenly," Red reminds. "But, there are seven of us and only five materia." Everyone stays silent for awhile. Vincent circle the materia, which are and a platform that looks almost invisible. "I will not take one. Never did like using them," he says. "Fine," Red says "and what about the other six? Let's start with Cloud." Cloud already made up his mind.  
  
"I will not take one either," he replies. "What?" Tiffa asks. "It will be me and my sword with you guys to back me." "If you say so." Tiffa looks around at her options. "Well, I guess I'll take Support materia. "I'll use it when you guys are casting." She slowly picks it up and it starts to glow even more. She equips it and feels very powered. Barret steps forward. "Shi' man. I guess I'll take the Spell one. I can cure you guys and if Tiffa uses mp absorb at the same time, it won't take that much mp away." He picks up the green one and it glows even more too. Red thinks to himself. "Exactly the ones I thought they would pick. Hmm." Yuffie steps up. "Yay! I'll take the Command one! It can help me throw and steal!" She picks it up. The yellow shines off her eyes. Cid's turn is up. "Summoning ain't for me, I'm takin' the Independent one." It glows as he picks it up. Red sees the only one left. The summoning one. He equips it and his flaming red tail flames even higher and brighter. "Let's go," Red orders. They all walk out. They travel just about ten miles out of the city on their chocobos. They stand tall and proud, ready for the fight. It is a perfectly clear night out and the stars are shining.  
  
The Cosmo Twin Bells strike twelve and in the distance they can see small flashes of lightning. A small wind picks up. They all get off the chocobos and send them runnning back home.  
  
FLASH, FLASH, FLASH!!!!! All of a sudden small energy flashes start fiering on the group. They ping off and a small shield protects them all. "Red, what are those flashes?" Cloud yells against the noise. Everyone soon realizes that they are protected by radiant shields. Red yells back "It's his energy. He can form it outside his body and propell it!"   
"How come they can't hit us?" Barret yells. More start coming and the wind picks up even more. "It's the materia! Even if you don't have one, you are protected. The materia can feel the close bonds between you and they want to preserve that bond. But becareful! They can not protect you once you start to use them. Either they are protecting you in the form of a shield or in the form you see them when they are cast." Everyone is amazed by this explanation. "So what we see is just a form they take to protect us?" Cloud yells. "Yes." The flashes stop and the shields diffuse for the moment.   
  
Cloud looks at Red. "You know all this?" he asks. "Yes, I do, obviously," Red says, without looking at Cloud.  
  
"Bugenhagen?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
find out next chapter what happens next. 


	3. The Fight

Chapter 3.   
  
The Fight  
  
The party waited in silence. The stars were shining brightly, very brightly. Everyone was waiting in suspense to see what would happen next. They waited in complete silence until another wind picked up. It was slight at first but it gradually picked up. All of a sudden they could all feel a heavyness on their hearts. It was like an evil wait. Then, up above them, one by one, the stars started to fade. They were all falling into darkness. It was becoming pitch black. In under 30 seconds, even where it was daytime in places in the world, mother Earth was completely black, and completely silent.  
  
"Draw your weapons, they will guide you in the darkness and toward victory!" Red yelled, startling the group. They did what they were told, and like he said the electricit around their weapons started shining brightly. They could see all around them just from the radiance of their weapons. Hope filled their hearts but that did not last long. They could hear whispers, faint whispers. Whispers of children, very young children.   
  
"He is coming you will die. He is coming you will die." The whispers were all around them and they thought they could see small clouds swirling around them. The whispers got faster and faster. "He is coming you will die. He is coming you will die. He is coming you will die." The clouds started swhirling faster and faster. Everyone was turning this way and that, intenlty watching their surrondings. Then, the whispers got louder. "He is coming you will DIE. He is coming you WILL DIE. He is coming YOU WILL DIE. He is COMING YOU WILL DIE. He IS COMING YOU WILL DIE. HE IS COMING YOU WILL DIE!!!!!"   
  
Screams erupted from the shadows. Shrill, high pitched screams. The clouds started swhirling in front of the group, getting lower and lower to the ground. It was now all rotating in a very small spot in the ground. Then, as fast as their eyes could see, the clouds, as if something hughe landed on them, spread out instantly. It was like a something had been dropped on a big cloud of dust. They covered their eyes. They looked up to see him standing there. He was looking at the ground.Him, the source of the energy, the evil, and the death.   
  
He was holding his masamune. His form shocked everyone. It was but……a child. Or at least they thought. Suddenly He rose up and took a much larger form. He looked the same but was now at least ten feet tall and had wings. Wings that were like a devil's. The webbing was ripped and torn, pieces falling off at some places.   
  
"Everyone spread out!" Cloud yelled. They did as he said and got into fighting postions. Cloud stayed put and faced Sephiroth, his Ultima Weapon drawn. Red and Tiffa were with him. Vincent and Cid were to the left a bit and Barret and Yuffie were to the right.   
  
Sephiroth finally looked up.   
"YOU WILL ALL DIE AT LAST!!!" He jumped up into the air bringing his ten foot sword behind him, ready to strike. Acting fast, Barret shot multiple rounds at him, knocking him off balance. Cloud jumped forward and slashed at him two times. Cloud jumped back down and. Tiffa stepped forward and immediatley cast Mb barrier, Barrier, Wall, reflect and Haste on the group and Cid links the spells with his Independent materia using mega all so the whole group got affected. Sephiroth recovered and cast Ultima on the entire group. The damage was cut in half by the spells Tiffa cast. Not wasting anytime, Red cast Knights of the Round and Tiffa used Mp absorb at the same time. Sephiroth was cut by all of the knights but it seemed to not take much out of him.   
  
He immediatley recoverd and knocked Cloud off his feet and got ready to swing his sword but Yuffie threw her Conformer and knocked the sword backwards. Barret casted Regen on the entire party. Sephiroth picked up the pace. He swooped around the group and cast Super Ultima (a new spell he created) on the group. This did a lot of damage to the group but got Cloud's limit break up. He used Omnislash and Barret and the others healed eachoter. Red got ready to summon another Knights of the Round and Yuffie would mime it.   
  
Cloud finished his limit break and Sephiroth cast Mb barrier, Reflect, Wall, and Barrier on himself. "Wait Red!" Barret yelled and he cast Despell on Sephiroth. It took off the Reflect and Mb barrier, but not the Wall or Barrier. Red summoned and the 14 knights came out and Yuffie mimed the summon.   
  
Sephiroth stopped. "You guys are better than I remember. But I guess now I can stop with the warm up." Sephiroth split himself into ten different Sephiroths. Each one was a shadow, but the group did not know which one was the real one. The Sephiroths smirked. "If you live past this, I will tell you a secret of mine. HAHAHAH! But that is doubtfull!"  
  
Find out next time if they live to find out his secret. 


	4. Secrets

Chapter 4  
  
Secrets?  
  
"What the @$#%? How can we beat ten of that freak?" Cid yelled. "I doubt they are all real Sephiroths, more like shadows," Red implied. "But since we don't know which one is real be careful!" "Yeah, yeah," Barret grumbled. Now everyone went full force. The Sephiroths started spinning around them. Red cast Knights of The Round and Tiffa linked it with Quadra Magic. The spell was cast four times, but it seemed like none of the Sephiroths were being hurt.  
  
All ten of them swooped in and out, faster and faster. The whole party felt Sephiroth's sword cutting them but couldn't tell which one was doing the damage. They screamed out in pain. "Stop! Mega All!" Barret and Tiffa linked the stop but it only affected one. Cloud jumped up and slashed it, but it dissapeared, a fake one. Again they all felt the Masamune upon their bodies. Longs cuts were forming across their chests and backs. Barret cast stop again and this time Yuffie threw her Conformer at it and the Sephiroth dissapeared, another fake one. "Cast more spells!" Red yelled. "Even if we don't know which one is which, the real one will still be hurt. Barret went to cast Ultima, but was knocked down by another blow. In unison, Vincent and Cid shot and slashed at the Sephiroths, but failed.   
  
"What is it? What's your secret?" Cloud yelled. "NOT NOW! I SAID IF YOU LIVE I WILL TELL YOU!" While Sephiroth was yelling Barret was casting more stop spells on the shadows. Yuffie and Cid took them out. The party was still being hurt, and Tiffa could barely stand. Barret cast Full Cure on her and she was back up, but only to be knocked down again.   
  
All of a sudden everyone was knocked down on the ground. They tried to get up but it was like they were being held down. "Ahhh!" Yuffie yelled. She was being cut and slashed and quickly losing hp. "Stop it!" Cloud tried desperatley to get up but couldn't. Then, Yuffie wased unconsious. Now, Barret started yelling and screaming. He cast another Full Cure and Tiffa used Mega All. The party was healed but Barret was still quickly losing life. All of the Sephiroths seemed to be cutting them, but they knew it was only one. Red, trying to keep up with the 6 Sephiroths that were left, caught something at the corner of his eye. He thought he saw another one behind the shadow Sephiroths. Then he knew. "Cast behind the copies! He's using them as shields!" Immediately, with out question, everyone started casting their strongest spells behind the shadows. Each spell cast seemed to lessen the grip.   
  
Red cast KoTR and all the shadows were gone. They stood up and saw an out of breath Sephiroth standing there. "You guys, huh, uhh, are better than I thought. Your will to live is strong," he taunted. Barret cast Life 2 on Yuffie then cast Full Life. She was back. "Well, I guess you guys are waiting for a secret huh?" the devil smirked. "I also have a very strong will to live. But let's start with the basics. Each life, weather human, animal or plant, has a will to live. Some, stronger than others." "Cut the bullshit! You ain't no philosopher!" Barret yelled impatiently. "He's probably trying to get us off guard, so becareful!" Vincent yelled. Realizing they were off their guard, everyone got into fighting stance. "LISTEN YOU INSOLENT FOOL! As I was saying…the will to live is in every living thing. This will still remains. It's what you refer to as 'Spirits'. Everything that dies becomes a spirit. If a living being were to fuse with a spirit, that being would gain new energy and become stronger and have a bigger will to live. The bigger the will to live you have, the stronger you become when near death." "Good story, what the hell's the point?" Cloud asked. Sephiroth stared at him then continued. "Fine, I'll cut straight to the point. Your little girlfriend, Aeris, is now me Cloud!!! AHAHAH!" Sephiroth let out a shrill luagh and then everyone stared wide eyed at what they saw. Sephiroth's chest opened and they could see thousands, millions of spirits in him. Then…..Aeris was there. She was transparent but they could all see her. Her voice was faint. "Cloooouuuuddddd. Heeeelllpppp meeeeeee," she pleaded.   
  
Sephiroth laughed. "See Cloud, she's there, right there. You could be with her, if you joined me Cloud." Cloud was becoming hypnotized. "Ae---Ae---Aeris?" "Yesssss Cloud, It'sssss meeeeee!" A black light formed around the edge of Cloud. Everyone was transfixed on what they saw. Cloud started floating up. Sephiroth smiled. "Yes Cloud, come. I have already some of your spirit in here from the last time we fought. I can feel you in me. Come!" Cloud floated higher toward his chest. Red, coming out of the trance yelled. "NOOOOO! DON'T LET CLOUD BE TAKEN!!! IT WILL MEAN THE END OF US AND THE WORLD!!" Everyone started all out on Sephiroth. Cloud stopped momentarilly. Sephiroth needed to take care of the annoying little rats. Clouds eyes were clouding, quickly losing control of himself. He could hear the screams of pain from his teammates, but his thought were on Aeris. She was still there. Sephirtoh left her there to keep the trance on Cloud while he slaughtered the others. Little did he know it was not really her. It was just an image Sephiroth produced. But her spirit was still there. Cloud's last bit of consiousness was fading. The last thing he heard was his teammates screaming and the last thing he saw was Aeris.  
  
Find out next time what happens. 


End file.
